Means for effecting synchronism



(No Model.)

J. H. ROGERS. MEANS FOR EPPEGTING SYNGHRONISM.

N0. 539,369. Patented May 14, 1895.

x IIVVEIVTOR $37M 67%;; py er s ATTORNEJ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HARRIS ROGERS, OF IVASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TOTHE VISUAL SYNOHRONISM COMPANY, OF WEST VIRGINIA.

MEANS FOR EFFECTING SYNCHRONISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 539,369, dated May 14,1895.

Application filed December 29, 1888. Serial No. 294,979 (No model.)

I ments in effecting synchronism in the movements of rotating wheels ordisks such as are frequently used in printing telegraph systems,electric time systems, and multiple telegraph systems, and in LettersPatent No. 358,753, issued to me March 1, 1887, I have shown anddescribed means by which a visual indication is given when a rotarydevice is not in synehronism with another or primary rotary device andhave described means for restoring the synchronism manually. In the saidLetters Patent I have shown various modifications of the fundamentalconception by which the visual indication may be so produced that theoperator can instantly determine whether the rotary device used by himis in sychronism with the distant rotary device or motor which is at thetime acting as transmitter.

My present invention has for its object more especially the provision ofmeans whereby the want of synehronism in the secondary or receivingdevice or motor will be automatically detected and synchronism restoredWithout any attention on the part of the operator.

The features of novelty will be more particularly hereinafter describedand will be definitely indicated in the claim appended to thisspecification.

In the drawings which form part of this specification, Figure 1 is adiagram illustrating the primary and secondary sun-wheels of a systemsuch as described in my said former patent, one of the wheelsconstituting the primary or transmitting wheel and the otherconstituting the secondary or receiving wheel. Fig. 2 is an elevation ofthe secondary or receivin g wheel in connection with its fly-wheel andmoving brush. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same, taken on the linea; of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a modification showing another way of arriving atthe result.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the general principle upon which my formerinvention was based may be briefly set forth as follows: A representsthe sun-wheel of the primary or transmitting instrument which is madestationary and on its periphery is fitted with a number of segments 1,2, 3, the. The wheel A is stationary and I fit to a shaft B, whichpasses freely through the axis of the wheel, an arm O which carries abrush D adapted to bear upon the periphery of the disk A. Fixed also toshaft B, but not indicated in Fig. 1, is

a heavy fly-wheel for the purpose of making the motion as uniform aspossible, and the shaft B is driven by any suitable source of power,such, for instance, as a small electric motor, the intention being todrive the shaft at ahigh rate of speed for which purposeI prefer a speedof about seven hundred per minute. As the shaft rotates it carries withit arm 0 and causes the brush D to pass in rotation over each of thesegments on the periphery of the wheel A. At the distant station I placea similar stationary, but adjustable, disk A having the same number ofsegments on its periphery and arranged in like relation to a fiy-wheelupon a shaft B which carries with it an arm 0 having a brush D bearingupon the periphery of the wheel A The shaft B of the receiving apparatusis also driven in a positive manner by any suitable motor and at a speedapproximately the same as shaft B of the transmitting instrument. Havingthus secured an approximate uniformity the object is to effect absolutesynchronism in the relation between the fly-wheels and their sunwheels.On the sun-wheel A, I connect one of the segments, say No. 11, throughatransmitting battery to earth, the circuit passing by way of brushD,arm O, shaft B to the line, which then passes directly to shaft B ofthe receiving apparatus whence it passes by the arm (3 and brush D intoone of the segments of the wheel A and thence to earth through ICOtogether and from their junction have taken a circuit through therelay-R to earth.- The relay R operates the make and breakcontactof aninduction coil I, whose secondary was used for the purpose of producinga spark, and this spark was utilized as a means of visually indicatingthe relationof therreceiving apparatus with thatof the transmittingapparatus and brush D was shown to be in advance of or behind theposition of brush D on the sun-wheel A at the transmitting station. Thenthe sun-wheel A conld'be readily moyed by hand either backwardly orforwardly a short distance in order to bring the twolbrushes intosynchronal position. Under these conditions then I have been able .toconnect the remaining segments in turn to the line and with thecertainty that at the instant the brush D was in contact with anygivensegment the brush D would be in contact with thecorrespondingsegment of the sunwheel A and thus the pnrposeof the invention could befulfilled. The object of connecting two of the segments, for instance11- and 12 on the sun-wheel A wasto give ama-rg-in for the transmissionof the sparkon eithersideof the exact position of synchronism and I havepreserved that-feature in'thepresent instance;

To antomatica lly bring about theadjus-tment which inthe previous casemustbeeffectedby hand, I proceed as follows: The receiving wheel Aisconstructedsubstantially the-same as in the former instance andhasfiy-wheel F rotating on the same axis, the flywheel F being fixed tothe shaft 13?, but the sunwheel A being held relatively stationaryinsuitable-bearingsin'which, when necessary, it can move the requireddistance for effecting its-adjustment. As before the arm G 'is fixed tothe rotating shaft and carries the brush 1) which bearsin rotationupont'he segments l, 2, 3, &c., of'the sun-wheel A The latter has fixedto itthe arm G'which extendsout approximately as far as the rim ofthewheel F and at its end carries an armature H fitted so as to be inclose proximity'totheexposed poles n s of an electro-magnet Mwhich issunk into the rim of thewheel F as shown in Fig. 3 more clearly.The-transmitting circuit will be the sameas shown in Fig. 1, but

the local circuit instead of being applied to 1 an induction coil asinFig. 1 willbeapplied' to the electromagnet M by suitable circuitconnections,preferablyin theform of brushes bearing on insulatedringsonthehub-of the wheel-F as shown in Fig; 3.-

In-all't'he fig-uresthe rotary parts; and the direct-ion of rotation areindicated by arrows and for the-sake of clearness I have 'all'thevarious rotations ina com mon' direction.

Ass-umingnow that t'he'transmitting wheel is'in' motionand the receivingwheel'F in mooff segment 11 a break occurs inthe main-Iin'e and therelay R releases its armature-and consequently closes the local-circuitthrough the magnet M foran instant. Hence the magnet M will be madeactive once during every revolution of the wheel F so long as the brushD passes over the segments 11 and 12 during anyportion of the time whenthe brush D of the-transmitting wheel is passing over segment 11; Itnow, through any change of speed in the wheel F, the relative positionsbetween the brush D and the sun-wheel A should become somewhat differentfrom the relative positions occupied by the corresponding parts of thetransmitting wheel the magnet M' will'automatically serve to restore therelations totheproperposition. Forinstance,

suppose the wheel F has slightly increased its,

.rate and at the instant when the relay R operates the. magnet M hasjfust'passed'the arlma-tu-re H ofthe stationary-arm G it willbecome-energ-izedfor'an instant and exertan atft'ractive poweron thearmature II as it passes aw=ay from it, and the eifect is to produce aZbrief movement'of-the armature H toward the irig-ht and this,by'meansof "the armG, shifts ;the sun-wheel A correspondingly, sothatafter one or more revolutions of thewheel F ithe-sun-wheel A has beenbroughttoth'e exgflOlTPOSlf/IOH it should occupy with'reference-togt'h'e' brush-D in order to=effectperfect correfispondence ofrelations-between the'receivin g 2andtransmittingwheels. On the otherhand, if the wheel F should tend to run-too slowly jitwould have-atendency to fall back some ;as to relative positions, and in that event,at

ithe instant the magnet M becomes energized it will not yet have reachedthe point opposite the armature H and the tendency will be -I toslightly drag the armature H backward isoas to bring the sun-wheel Aslightly back Lto correspond to the-retardation in the speed ofthewheelF. The relative positions-are-exaggerated in Fig. 2'in order to makeclearthe relation ofthe parts, but it is obvious that- Esince the magnetM would receive current for an instant during every revolution=of wheelF, the sun-wheel'A and with it the armature could not possibly becomedisplaced toany snch-extent asshown-on Fig. 2, sinc'e'the maggnet Mwould be constantly correcting any tendency tochangeof speed.-

To-provide for thecontingency of a con- ,tinued advance-in speed of thewheel F, ora continued' retardation, which would havethe {eifect ofcarrying the sun-w-heelA step by step around through oneor'more completerevolutions, or the reverse effect taking-place ,gowing to *acontinuedretardationof the wheel F,I propose to connect the various segments jof"the sun-wheelrespectively eachtoits own icontact ring, which I locateata suitable point @011 an insulated sleeve extending from the wheel A'andcoincident with the axis thereof.

time the wheel A and its controlling arm G are free to move forward orbackward in rotation to any extent required by the conditions of speedof the wheel F.

The principle of automatic adjustment of the secondary wheel intosynchronism with the primary may be carried out in other ways withoutdeparting from the essential idea of automatic operation, and Itherefore do not confine the scope of this invention to any particulararrangement of devices for this purpose as such means are susceptible ofa variety of modifications. One of such modifications is shown at Fig. 4where the arm G is fixed to the sun-wheel A as before, but instead ofthe armature H upon its extremity it is fitted with a long spring bladeP shown in the figure partly in dotted lines as it is behind the arm G.The magnet M is arranged in the rim of the wheel F as before, and itsarmature is pivotally mounted on the wheel and has an extendingprojection which is arranged to impinge upon the outer extremity of thespring P at certain times and be drawn out of the way of the spring atother times, according to whether the magnet M is energized at theproperinstant or not. The circuit of the magnet M is arranged the sameas shown in Fig. 3. If now, the wheel F is tending to run too fast, themagnet M will not be energized until after it is past a point oppositethe arm G. Therefore the armature on the wheel will not be attracted atthe instant when its projection is about to strike the end of the springP and the latter is caughtfor an instant and the arm G given a slightpull in the same direction, as the wheel F is moving, and is quicklyreleased by the attraction of the armature to the magnet M, so that thewheel F moves on now without further alteration of the position of thearm G until want of syn-.

the arm G and its sun-wheel A but has no effect in driving it backwardlyin a direction opposed to that of the wheel F. Other modifications willreadily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art to which thisinvention relates.

The sun-wheel A being held in bearingsindependent of the shaft 13 thereis of course no tendency for the movement of the wheel F to communicatemovement to the sun-wheel A to rther than the slight friction of thebrush D which is not sufficient to overcome the inertia of thesun-wheel, but in the positive movement given the sun-wheel by theautomatic adjusting arrangements it is desirable to place sufficientfriction upon the sun-wheel to control its inertia and prevent it fromacquiring momentum by the attraction of the magnet M when the latter isenergized.

It will be seen that I provide at each station a motor operatingarevolving contact maker, the stationary member of one contact makerbeing circumferentially adjustable, and when synchronism fails a circuitis closed at one station and operates electromagnetically to shift theadjustable member of the contact maker at the other station until theinstants of contact are simultaneous or synchronous.

I claim as my invention Means for producing synchronous contact at twostations comprising two mechanically disconnected motors, contact makersoperated thereby, one member of each contact maker being stationary andthe other revolved by its motor, an electric circuit periodically closedby one contact maker, and electromagnetic means controlled by saidcircuit for circumferentially shifting the stationary member of theother contact maker when synchro nism fails, for the purpose set forth;

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES HARRIS ROGERS.

Witnesses:

T. J. MOTIGHE, W. V. ROGERS.

